


A Romance in 5 Train Stops

by bob2ff



Series: Miracles Hijinks [20]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Humor, Introspection, Light Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 16:23:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2031762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bob2ff/pseuds/bob2ff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kise journeys a further distance than he ever expected to travel, in five train stops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Romance in 5 Train Stops

**Author's Note:**

> Written for BPS' Challenge 81 (Five Things).

_Akebonobashi Stop_

Kagami was stuffing his face. Kise could not help but stare fascinatedly, drawn despite his disgust. He was eating _cheeseburgers_. Kise could not think of a worst favourite food for an athlete to have.

“Oi, Kise, why did you call me randomly?” Kise wondered about why it had taken half an hour for Kagami to finally ask him why he had called him there. Then again, suddenly showing up with a cheery greeting and a bag of cheeseburgers had probably shifted Kagami’s priorities, substantially.

Kise smiled, sweetly. “You’ll find out. It’s a secret~”

Kagami raised his eyebrows at him. Kise just continued smiling. Kagami leaned in, close. Kise stood his ground, not willing to recoil, even as he could _smell_ the awful smell of cheeseburgers. He would not back down, and not to _Kagamichii_ of all people.

Kagami narrowed his eyes, his face up close against Kise’s. Kise’s smile felt stiff on his face as he noted every streak of colour and pinprick in Kagamichii’s eyes. Then Kagami leaned back, and stared out of the window.

“You’re such a weirdo.” 

Kise bit back the instinctive wail of protest. Kagamichii was different from the rest of the Miracles. He was a _rival_. Not one to act with the way Kise usually did.

In the early autumn, the leaves were just turning golden, red tips colouring the ends like they had been daintily dipped in red paint. 

As Kise watched Kagami staring at them, he thought about transition, and change. About growing up, overcoming challenges, and whether the time it took to do so could be forced by sheer will.

 _Ichigaya Stop_  

“Man, how long is this train ride?” Kagami had finished his cheeseburgers, and was now fidgeting. He was looking at his hands like he didn’t know what to do with them, when they weren’t holding a basketball, or food. Kise had never known someone could be more restless than _himself_.

“It’s only been one stop, Kagamichii!” Kise himself was resisting the urge to squirm. He was going to be the mature one here. It was an odd sensation.

“Japanese trains are so _quiet_ ,” Kagami mused. He had leaned forward, burying his chin in one hand, and was looking at Kise through his bangs. Even when he wasn’t trying, Kagamichii’s gaze always made Kise itch with the sensation to compete, to challenge, to _surpass_ him. 

For someone Kise found more foolish than himself, Kagami’s gaze had the gravity that demanded Kise’s respect in a way he never wanted to give most people. Its unconscious intensity made a tingle emerge, quiet and subtle, from the center of Kise’s chest. 

“Maybe _you’re_ too loud for Japanese trains,” Kise teased, winking. Then he stopped himself before the sparkles arose. What was he _doing_? That was not the way to get a rival to acknowledge you. Even though it _was_ fun — Kagamichii always reacted in the _best_ ways.

Kagami scoffed, a hard burst of air through his teeth. Sitting across from Kise, his knees almost touched Kise’s own. Kise concentrated on that space between their knees. So near, yet so far. The distance even genius, or boundless potential, could not breach.

“ _You’re_ being too quiet,” Kagami grumbled, suspiciously. He sat up again, and crossed his arms. “What’s wrong with you?”

Kise stretched, ever so slightly, so his knees pressed against Kagamichii’s. Kagami did not seem to notice, still levelling that thoughtful gaze at Kise.

“You’re being too smart, Kagamichii.” Kise let his lips curve upwards, secretive and silky. “It doesn’t suit you.”

Kagami had sputtered something in protest, but all Kise could focus on, and sense, were his knees pressed onto his. The point in contact from which Kise’s nerves were electrifying, a sensation stronger than the gentle tingle in his chest.

_Kudanshita Stop_

“And there are roads that go on so long, you feel like being in a car _forever_ ,” Kagami had moved next to Kise, enthusiastically gesturing as he described Los Angeles. His knee, and thigh, was pressed against Kise’s.

“It’s not like these trains.” Kagami gave a perfunctory glance out the window. “Here, you know exactly where you’re going, at any point in time. Don’t you ever want to, I dunno, get lost?”

The train was at that stage where there was just enough people to feel pressed upon, but not so crowded that it became claustrophobic. As such, Kise did not feel trapped, in so far as he felt like Kagamichii and him were, ironically, all alone in their intimate little realm, even as they were surrounded by people.

“You don’t make any sense, Kagamichii,” Kise was, currently, trying to understand the warmth he could sense making its way from his chest all to the ends of his toes. All he could gather was that it was from where Kagamichii was pressed onto him.

“ _You_ don’t make any sense,” Kagami bit out defensively. He leaned back, his shoulder touching Kise’s. Looking discreetly from the side of his eyes, Kise eyed the red strip that appeared across the bridge of Kagami’s nose. The red strip started out shy, but widened to cover Kagami’s entire face. 

 _That_ was the kind of reaction Kise loved getting out of Kagamichii. He was so easy to fluster, so easy to tease. So unlike the others Kise had always chased. Lacking the confidence that normally attracted Kise to insurmountable rivals.

Kise leaned back, pressing their shoulders closer together. Looking out the window, he saw that the leaves draping the trees somehow, seemed a little more red. The paint, a little less tentative. The change, a little less unsure.

_Jimbocho Stop_

“So how the hell did we end up losing our seats again?” Kagami’s hand was wrapped around a rail. Kise’s hand was just beside his own. The distance between them felt less insurmountable, although Kise could feel his body swaying like a willow branch, each sway somehow bringing him a little closer to Kagami.

“You know why, Kagamichii,” Kise resisted the urge to pout, even though his defense came out petulant.

“Yeah, it was your fault.” Kagami rolled his eyes, getting out of the way of someone moving past him. That brought him closer to Kise, and his hip brushed against Kise’s. “You thought we were supposed to be getting out that last stop.”

Kise began to indignantly declare a response, but then someone pressed against him.

“Kise-kun!” A girl had recognized him, smiling excitedly as she shoved a magazine with Kise’s face plastered all over it for him to sign.

The smile came automatically onto Kise’s face, the reaction well-practiced over the years. While he spoke to the girl, however, he could not help glancing at Kagami. At his reaction, and whether this could impress him. Whether this would disappoint him. Whether he would even care. 

Kagami was staring at the girl. A jolt of apprehension crept up Kise’s spine. His heart thumped half in hope, half in fear.

“There are _way_ better celebrities to like than this idiot,” Kagami’s expression looked genuinely oblivious, genuinely curious. The girl started angrily, furiously defending Kise, and an ‘oh shit’ expression spread across Kagami’s face.

The laughter almost burst from Kise, a wonderful release of his control, his anxiety, throughout this entire trip. But Kise held it in, admirably so. Grabbing Kagami by his sleeve, Kise charmingly, skillfully, expertly maneuvered them out the next stop, apologizing to the girl all that while.

“You don’t do well with girls, don’t you, Kagamichii?” It seemed like the almost-laughter had broken the last of Kise’s stifling control. This time, it wasn’t Kise chasing, trying to gain admiration.

Kise could wink, smile, sparkle, at Kagamichii, the methods he had always known were the ways to draw adoration. The ways to be a stronger light than any of the others he had ever known.

“Shut up.” Kagami crossed his arms, scowling. “I’m right, anyhow. Lebron or Kobe are way cooler than a dumbass like _you_.”

Kise watched Kagamichii, and felt the smile spread across his face, longing, more natural than the ones he had been giving all throughout trip.

_Ogawamachi Stop_

“So we left one stop earlier because you wanted to escape from your fans?” Kagami frowned, scratching the back of his neck. “That’s dumb. Now we have to _walk_?”

Kise pouted, the movement natural and unforced. “I was trying to be considerate, Kagamichii! I didn’t want you to feel left out. So unappreciative.” 

Kagami stopped abruptly, and only Kise’s heightened awareness of everything Kagamichii did made him stop too.

“So _now_ will you tell me what the hell we’re doing?” Kagami was looking at Kise from the corner of his eyes. 

They were standing on a shaded sidewalk, and the trees were all around them. The golden shades of colours around them all went unnoticed, as Kise let his smile slowly sharpen.

“You already know, don’t you, Kagamichii?”

Kagamichii’s gaze was the same one he levelled to every challenger, every competitor. The tingle came not gently this time, but as a pounding in Kise’s chest, as Kise looked back at him.

“You want to challenge me to a one-on-one, don’t you?” Kise could see Kagami itching with the desire to go against Perfect Copy. Kise could hear the excitement thrumming in his voice, strings vibrating taut with tension.

Kise watched Kagamichii’s hands, twitching restlessly to hold a basketball, to take Kise up on his unspoken challenge they both knew hung between them. 

“I did,” Kise admitted, stepping forward. The physical distance between them was further than the distances in five stops, the spaces between their faces, their knees, their hands, their shoulders. But Kise somehow felt like he was closer than they ever were before.

“I don’t think it matters anymore, though."

They were in their own intimate realm again, and all Kise could see was Kagamichii, not knowing what to do with his hands when they weren’t holding a basketball. Not even aware about how he was being chased, a challenge Kise once found insurmountable, but now felt was within his reach.

A reach Kise physically grasped, as he reached out to hold Kagami’s hand.

Somehow, Kise thought he would not mind the taste of cheeseburgers as much, this time.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are very much appreciated! =)


End file.
